Halo: The Magic Bullet (H:TMB)
by Atraxotax
Summary: When a Skirmisher and his Engineer companion are stranded on an unknown planet, Imort 3 (eye-more), they must take extreme measures to survive. Even if it means siding with the enemy. (Jackal Skirmisher, Engineer, Human). ON HOLD. Read my other stories if you get sick of waiting.
1. Prologue

**Well, here's my story in the Halo universe. Obviously, I don't need to say that fans of the series would be the targeted audience. I wrote this with a Skirmisher as the main character because the Kig-Yar species just doesn't get as much attention as it should. I should probably explain some things that even _fans _of the franchise might not know.**

**Due to the wildly varying environments of Eayn, the Kig-Yar home-world, the Kig-Yar race has split into three sub-species. Each named after the three regions of Eayn that they call home. Ru'ut, T'vao, and Ibie'sh. The first, and most common species is what you would think of a Jackal from Halos 1, 2, 3, and ODST. The bird-like appearances of the Ru'ut (ruh-uht) have earned them the nicknames of "vulture" and "buzzard". The second variation, are the T'vaoans (tuh-vow-unn), commonly known as "Skirmishers" from humans, the T'vaoans are bigger, stronger, and faster than their Ru'ut cousins. And the last variety would be the Ibie'sh (ibb-eyesh), the piranha, reptile looking bastards from Halo 4, known as Storm Jackals.**

Prologue

_During the fall of Reach…_

A Covenant Corvette hung ominously in low orbit. Shadowing a small city in darkness. Making it look like the middle of the night, obscuring the city in a shield of black. Everything was quiet, as if the environment _itself_ knew what was coming. Alight wind blew through the forested biome around the small metropolis. Its usually bright verdant leaves and grass, which had been beautiful, were tainted by darkened skies. Further adding to the gravity of the situation.

The shadow of the alien space cruiser was suddenly cut clean in half by a small flash of light from its underside. The flash was just enough to see a circular, carved indentation in the vessels hull. Revealing a shiny, orb-ish object in its center.

An almost inaudible hum and a minute later, a brilliantly blinding pillar of sky blue plasma cut through the darkness once more.

Erupting from the ship in continuous, pulsing waves. As the plasma began its demolishing of the city, two beings were almost caught in its touch, running away from the coming fire.

Well… _one _of them was (trying to) sprinting and dragging the other one along.

* * *

><p>An orange, metal, clawed foot splashed into a puddle from a recent rainstorm, and launched from it. Leaving 3 scratch marks in the concrete. A brief shadow passed over the "footprint" a second later.<p>

A panicked, reverberating wail sounded, followed by multiple, short squawking barks.

The soldier tugged on the bundle of Huragok tentacles he had in his hand, as said creature only tugged back, harder. He was getting quite annoyed with the creatures' panicking.

Couldn't this thing recognize that he was trying to help it? He'd admit, the Huragok can be very clever, but they seemed to flinch and crack under pressure more often than an Unngoy in a firefight!

Which is saying something.

He glanced down the human street, his only illumination being the glow of his Plasma Pistol, and the orange lights of his facemasks' eye lenses. Irradiating an odd, mixed color on the surrounding few feet. Despite that, _and _ his advanced Kig-Yar vision, he _still_ couldn't see very well in the shadow of-

He looked up at the underside of the _Cold Embrace_, he knew that the Shipmaster would give the order to Glass the human city within a matter of minutes. Why they'd have to _Glass_ this place, instead of assaulting, he didn't know. It was abandoned, and didn't seem to have a very large population in the first place.

Then again, only _he_ really knew that, or could even tell the difference. He _swore_, the Covenant seemed to _enjoy_ wasting Glassing Beam energy on the most trivial things.

He had to find a way out of here _now_, or he and the Huragok would end up as particles in the wind. It was already too late to get out of range, so they had to get underground or something like that.

And at the moment, standing in the middle of a darkened, human street, surrounded by inactive human vehicles, they were _right_ in the Glassing Beams crosshairs, so to speak.

The Huragok wailed in desperation for the umpteenth time, and tried to yank its tentacles out of the T'vaoans' grip. He growled, and yanked on its limbs a bit harder than last time, and ran down the street, away from the Covenant Corvettes center.

Well… he _would _have been running, were it not for the Huragoks' resistance.

The irritating creature cried out again. "Oh, would you calm down?!", he yelled in its face, suddenly stopping. The dam thing just whined and squirmed its tentacles within his hand, trying to get free.

Ugh, it was either being really stubborn, or it just didn't understand him. Which he doubted, considering that these things are practically living supercomputers. Thus, they can "crack the code" on any language within minutes of exposure.

The Kig-Yar growled at his feet in exasperation.

A bright flash of blue lit up the whole place, briefly. And a very soft hum could be heard from above. Okay… they _really_ needed to leave… like, right fucking now.

The soldier took off once again down the human street, and was half surprised to see that the Huragok didn't resist. He looked back briefly at the intelligent creature, it was squinting at the Corvette above in fear. It must have known what was coming.

He glanced around quickly, struggling to see in the low light ,as he moved. He began breathing heavily through his open beak, as his searching came with nothing, as they passed an alleyway.

The human of the _Cold Embrace's _Glassing Beam became louder, and showered the small city in a ghostly blue light.

_ Come on! Come on!_, he thought, _don't these humans have some sort of contingency measures?!_. Surely they do! They _had _been fighting the Covenant for almost 20! Fucking! Years!

The volume of the hum suddenly became almost deafening. The blue illumination becoming brighter. Preparing to fire.

It at least gave him the benefit of seeing, and an idea of how long they had before they were turned to dust. About 45 seconds.

About twenty seconds later of running and searching resulted in dismal failure.

The Kig-Yar stopped, panting, looking around. _Still_ fucking NOTHING!

Well, crap… they were going to die… bugger.

The Kig-Yar stared at the ground, the yellow paint on the smooth, black tarmac suddenly becoming very interesting.

_Forerunners why!? Why do I have to die like this?! An unfortunate mistake!?_, though he would have preferred to not die AT ALL, he always thought his death would be at least dignified.

He looked up at the bright, blue light of one of the Covenants greatest weapons, which was now glowing brighter than the suns of Sangheilios. He heard what sounded like a defeated sigh from the Huragok which had had his forearm in a death grip.

Well… at least _one_ of them could accept their fate…

"Yeah… you and me both, Huragok", he agreed, glancing back at the creature he had attempted to save. It looked at him back, and made an affirmative, yet sad, sounding chirp.

He was about to stare back into the glow of the Glassing Beam, when he noticed something past the Huragok.

A staircase in the ground, heading downwards…

* * *

><p>The Kig-Yar flinched from behind a human version of a bench, as debris came crashing down and smothered the entryway to the transportation tunnel they had just escaped through. Dust came roiling off the pile of rubble, as the rumbling of collapsing buildings sounded above ground.<p>

The light from the outside flickered out. Leaving the tunnel pitch black.

The Kig-Yar sheathed his drawn Plasma Pistol, previously used for light, and reached up the finger a button on his facemask, behind his left eye lens. His vision briefly flashed a solid purple, before outlining the objects in the tunnel with a bright purple hue.

As a result of his night vision activating, the orange glow of his eye lenses dimmed, which made the Huragok panic, because it couldn't see anything without light.

He glanced at the Huragok blankly, still stunned that they had _actually_ made it, before reaching an arm out to brush the creatures tentacles. As expected, the Huragok immediately latched onto the Kig-Yars' armored wrist with all of its limbs, like a vice.

His head feathers shifted into a gray color, from what had previously been jet black from adrenaline, into what _would_ have been a raised eyebrow.

_Eh, guess I would panic too, if I couldn't see a thing_, he thought, shrugging. His feathers then shifting into a bright white in a relaxed state.

He looked in both directions down the tunnel, before turning and walking in what his HUD indicated was northeast.

As he walked down the tunnel, which hopefully had an exit, he could feel the Huragok float a bit closer to him and hum in what he assumed was relief.

He said nothing of it, despite the creatures' skin being cold, and walked on. He briefly checked over the Point Defense Gauntlets he had on his forearms, making sure he hadn't damaged them when he leaped into the tunnel.

He also looked over the dual Plasma Pistols on his thighs, and reached back to inspect his Needle Rifle.

Luckily, his equipment was fine.

_I am one _lucky _bastard_, he thought to himself, shaking his head in disbelief at his fortune.

His name, is Vus Lenn, a T'vaoan Kig-Yar, supreme gladiator of the T'vao state, and a Murmillo of the Covenant shock troops that the warriors of his species had become.

And now… well, he was stranded on this planet.

**"Murmillo" is a third highest rank within the likes of the skirmishers, and is unique to _them_. Murmillones are those Skirmishers that have "shields" on their forearms, known as point defense gauntlets. Since the word "murmillo" is taken from name of a type of gladiator from Roman times, it might indicate that the T'vaoans integrated some of their culture into the Covenant military. Further evidence could be that the 2nd and 1st highest ranks above Murmillo are the Commando and Champion.**


	2. Chapter 1: The Situation

Vus had underestimated the length of the tunnel, apparently the humans had intended to have it end up 10 miles away. Again, a rough estimate, but what could he do? His night vision only had a certain range, leaving the tunnel beyond 100 yards pitch black. And everything else bathed with a purple hue. So all he could do was walk… walking through a dark tunnel, which may or may not have an exit at the end, with a Huragok floating above his left shoulder.

Speaking of; the creature seemed to be content with following him willingly, as opposed to attempting to escape. It was probably grateful for him, practically, saving its life… but, then again, he was the one who had put it in danger. By dragging it along with him. It could have probably flown above the Corvette or something.

But, maybe it didn't realize that.

After following him for about 10 minutes, with a tentacle wrapped around his wrist to avoid getting lost in the dark, it seemed rather… well, bored. So it eventually lifted his left arm off to the side and started fiddling with his Point Defense Gauntlet.

Vus wasn't concerned. The only things that Huragok ever seem to take pride in, or enjoy are either fixing or improving any machinery they can get their tentacles on. So whatever this Huragok was doing, as it removed a metal plate from his PDG and caused a spark to fly, was most likely going to benefit him.

Vus watched the Huragok work, seeing as though he was getting bored, too. Its movements were almost incomprehensibly fast, removing and replacing circuits with a spark or two, rearranging a few wires and filaments. Even removing and seemingly toying with the small sphere of plasma (contained in glass) that acted as the devices' energy source.

It eventually put back all of the orange plating that made up the PDG's armor, and floated over to Vus's right side and began working on his other Gauntlet.

He raised his (most likely) improved shield up to his face to inspect it. Looking over his forearm. His head feathers turning gray; curiosity. He didn't notice any physical difference, the same, thick, oval shape, dark orange plating, and gray carvings over the top. Wanting to know what the Huragok had done, he held his arm a bit higher, fingers pointing upward, and pressed the small button in the elbow joint of his Combat Harness. Interrupting the Huragoks work momentarily.

The Blue accents in the gray carvings lit up red briefly, then a large… blood red plasma shield formed over the top of his forearms armor. It was usually sky blue. _Huh… I would get in _so_ much trouble for this_, he briefly mused, glanced at the Huragok, which was toying with a circuit of his other PDG. Would it be annoyed that he was using it so soon? But it gave no indication that it even noticed. Despite the bright red glow that was most likely illuminating the tunnel.

Vus was actually impressed that the Huragok was able to work in the dark this whole time. But he guessed that, with a species that communicated with sign language and pulled apart machinery on a daily basis, they _would_become somewhat skilled with their "hands".

[No, not in that way, you perverted dope! Get your mind out of the gutter!]

He directed his attention back to his left PDG. It was common practice for higher-ranking Kig-Yar (at least amongst the Ru'ut) to have crimson, and improved Point Defense Gauntlets. So it would stand to reason that the Huragok had done the same thing here.

He pressed the button on his elbow again, momentarily stopping the Huragoks work a second time, turning the device off, just as the Huragok was finishing with his other one. It then floated back over to his left side and gave an affirmative chirp. Vus's head feathers shifted back into a passive white. He supposed he should be grateful, but… the Huragok _was_ just doing "what it does". And he doubted he would need to block bullets anytime soon.

Instead he gave the Huragok a nod of acknowledgment, and went back to walking silently, the Huragok following suit… well, floating as in… you get the idea.

Vus sighed at the ground. His thoughts drifted to what he and the Huragok were going to do. Which lead him to think back to how they got here.

* * *

><p>When the <em>Cold Embrace<em>, the fifteenth ship in the _Fleet of Adamant Conviction_, had arrived here, Vus and his team of T'vaoans were the first ones out. His head feathers shifted into a shade of dark gold; hindsight. _Ah, those guys_, he thought warmly, in remembrance. His Platoon, the only T'vaoan Kig-Yar on the _Cold Embrace_, were one of the Fleets most useful tools. They had been in over 80 engagements with the humans, going back to the struggle over the human planet of Harvest.

They had even once taken on, and taken _down_ a Demon!

Despite that Vus was the only Murmillo in the team, surrounded by 7 Commandos and 2 Champions; he was still on par in terms of skill… maybe even better. Being the Supreme Gladiator of the T'vao state, triumphant in over a hundred duels, and award winning, can have that effect. His title of "Supreme Gladiator" had gotten him approval, scorn, mockery and admiration… and not just from his own species.

Half the reason he was accepted into the Covenant, other than his skill in fighting, was to inspire the younger members of his species to sign up. Although, the Prophets never really said so, Vus knew full well what they were trying to do. And he knew it wouldn't work. Juvenile Kig-Yar are naturally headstrong and dismissive of other peoples achievements. Always eager to make their own path in life.

The reason he said 'yes' to going to High Charity, was because the gladiatorial arena was getting a bit bland for him.

Plus, _every_ Kig-Yar knows an opportunity when they see one.

Anyway, getting off topic, Vus and his team were sent in first to scout out the human city. Yes, _the_ human city, the one that Vus had escaped the Glassing of was _literally_ the only city that the humans had constructed on the planet. Imort 3, he believed the small planetoid was named.

Vus and his Platoon had been sent in by Phantom, and when they jumped out… it seemed like Vus was the only one of them that noticed a Huragok float quietly away from their parked drop ship. Apparently, the same Huragok he now had at his side, was sneaking off the _Cold Embrace_.

Wanting this mission to go quickly, and not have to run around searching for a missing Huragok afterwards, he snuck off away from his team and went after it. He could have only been gone for five minutes, after he caught the Huragok, but when he came back to the drop off point, the Phantom had lifted off, flying back up to the _Cold Embrace_.

How his team could have, mother fucking, forgotten about him, Vus had no idea!

And then, well… he had to act fast to avoid getting Glassed. And now he was here, with the Huragok.

_Great, left behind because I didn't get the memo_, he now thought in irritation, his head feathers turning a dark maroon, accordingly.

That stray thought brought the full gravity of his situation upon him. He hadn't really been _thinking_ about it. He had _known_, but until now wasn't in the state of mind to _understand_, since he was running from 80 tones of burning plasma, at the time. He sighed, feathers changing into a shiny copper; resignation; bitterness.

The Covenant wouldn't be coming back.

The planet, Imort 3, was insignificant, with only one human city. The Prophets didn't even deem it necessary to Glass the entire surface! Like they'd normally do. No. "Only where the humans reside". The librarians of Covenant history probably wouldn't even document the fact that this planet existed! And, now that Vus thought about it, if they _did_ notice that he and a Huragok were missing, they definitely wouldn't be wasting the fuel to come back here.

Not now.

Vus growled in frustration, glaring at the ground, as if it had just associated a derogative word with his mother. He was stranded on this rock. And would most likely _stay _stranded. His head feathers brightened into a fiery red; anger.

_This is complete crap! I don't _believe_ this shit!_, he thought, fists clenching.

His sulking was interrupted by an inquisitive, concerned, chirp from the Huragok. He directed his gaze to it. It tilted its head at him. Trilling. In hindsight, he didn't know _why_ he had saved the creature. It _was_ the reason he was stuck here. Maybe he just didn't like the thought of being alone.

"Just… a bit annoyed, Huragok", he said dismissively, shaking his head, looking down the way they were going.

* * *

><p>He had been saved by this Kig-Yar. A Murmillo who he was following through some sort of dark tunnel. Not very characteristic of a Kig-Yar to do something for someone other than themselves. But The Huragok was grateful nonetheless, for his rescue. But, now, he was worried that the Kig-Yar was angry at him.<p>

The T'vaoan had growled, and because the Huragok couldn't see anything in this insufferable darkness, he couldn't tell what the Kig-Yar could have been angry at. The Murmillo was wearing an orange facemask and eye lenses. Meaning that the only thing he could have used to tell what the Kig-Yar was thinking, was by his head feathers.

The feathers and quills of the Kig-Yar species changed color according to the individual's emotions or mood. And after being around the species for 10 years, the Huragok had mastered which colors meant what. But, the darkness that took away his vision stopped his expertise of Kig-Yar "body language" from being of any use.

Chancing making the Murmillo angrier, he vocalized his concern through sound. An agonizing moment passed before the Kig-Yar said, "Just… a bit annoyed, Huragok". That answer _really_ didn't help his anxiety. He shook his head, he hated how utterly vague the various Covenant species could be.

_'Just a bit annoyed'? ANNOYED AT WHAT!? THAT COULD MEAN ANYTHING!_, he thought.

Due to the Huragoks' stress, he had inadvertently signed his thoughts "aloud", with his tentacles in his kinds language.

Which was what made it surprising when the Kig-Yar barked in a quick laugh.

* * *

><p>Vus had noticed the peculiar way that the Huragoks limbs had moved about, and recognized it as the creatures way of speaking. And he understood it. What the Huragok had complained about was funny to him, "I mean, annoyed at our <em>situation<em>", he explained, laughing slightly. Head feathers turning a passive white, rather than the red they had been in anger.

The Huragok seemed stunned for a moment, then shook its head.

_"You know our language?"_, it signed, asking.

"Yeah", Vus replied, casually. Knowing the short answer would irritate the Huragok.

Its eyes narrowed in aggravation, making him chuckle, _"how?"_, it asked.

"Well", he started, looking back down the direction they were going. "When I was stationed on a small Corvette called the _Rapid Conversion_, I once found this Unngoy and a Huragok in private. I didn't think much of it, until I saw the way they both moved their hands… well, hands and tentacles. Realizing that they were communicating, I confronted them and the Unngoy explained that he had been learning the Huragok sign language", Vus explained.

He looked back to the Huragok at his side, and saw that it was still listening. He continued, "of course, this was highly unusual, seeing as though, at the time, the Covenant assumed that your kind didn't _have_ a language", he said, glancing at the creature next to him. Seeing no change in its body language, (man… he really needed to stop referring to it as an "it") he continued.

"Apparently, the Unngoy believed that, should this secret be found out, all Huragoks would be in serious trouble, he didn't want that".

"Being that I didn't really care either way this charade turned out", Vus looked back at the Huragok and laughed when he saw that it signed _"big surprise there"_. He went on, "Anyway, I didn't have much stake in the situation, so, in exchange for keeping the secret a secret, I had the Unngoy make a sort of 'guide to learning the Huragok language' on a data-pad for me", Vus finished.

Vus seemed to realize something. He pressed the button on the inside of his elbow joint, activating his left PDG. Filling the tunnel with a crimson light, allowing the Huragok some vision… it was probably sick of not seeing anything. Vus held up his active shield at his side as he kept walking.

Vus noticed that the Huragoks tentacles were seemingly in the middle of the sentence before it stopped and waited for the 6 of its eyes to adjust to the sudden illumination. The Huragok blinked its black, reflective eyes a few times and shook its head. It then started what it had been saying over again, Vus waiting patiently all the while.

_"Why would you want to know our language?"_, it asked… man, again with the "it"!

It continued before he could answer, _"I haven't known many Kig-Yar that would go out of their own way to learn something about another Covenant species"_, it pointed out, shaking its head slightly in what seemed like fascination.

"I… guess I take pride in having skill sets that others don't, doesn't really matter what the skill is", Vus answered after thinking for a moment. His head feathers flaring quickly then shrinking backward, in his kinds version of a shrug. The Huragok seemed satisfied with that answer.

They went back to walking in silence. Vus was surprised that the Huragok wasn't more curious, or talkative.

_I really need to learn this things name… it would get really old, really fast if I always referred to it as "it" or "Huragok"_, he thought.

He then felt something tap his shoulder armor, "_what is your name?"_, it asked. Speak of the devil.

"Vus Lenn", he replied, "you?".

_"Rapidly Ascends"_, it answered.

Vus might've scoffed. Typical Huragok name. "I think I'll just call you 'Rapid', or 'R.A' or something", he commented. _"Why? What is wrong with my full name?"_, it signed. "Oh, there's nothing wrong with it, it'll just become a mouthful to say in conversation", Vus explained flippantly, waving off the question.

It seemed to slouch a bit, _"That was a contradictory statement"_, it said. Vus laughed, these Huragok were always so goddamn prudent when it comes to language, as he had found out through experience. Vus slouched himself, head feathers turning dark maroon, suddenly becoming annoyed at not knowing the creatures' gender.

"Male?", he asked quickly, head feathers shifting into a dark gray; suspicion; urgent curiosity.

The recently named "R.A" gave him a confused look, then a plain suspicious look after realizing what he meant by the question. _"Yes… why?"_, **_HE_** asked. Vus sighed, "what? You think I can tell your genders apart? No offense, but you _literally_ all look the same to me", he deadpanned. R.A didn't seem surprised by the normally racist comment.

_Though, he could probably say the same about the Kig-Yar_, Vus thought to himself.

R.A seemed to think for a moment, _"what did you mean by 'annoyed at our situation?"_, he signed.

"R.A", Vus started, leaning slightly toward the Huragok, feathers turning white. "We are stranded on an alien planet, surrounded by possibly hostile creatures, with almost no hope of rescue, I think I'm entitled to be a bit peeved at this turn of events", he explained, voice completely even.

R.A seemed almost shocked at this, then he looked away a bit guiltily, knowing what was already apparent. "What?", Vus asked, "you didn't think your little escape plan all the way through? Somewhat of a fatal error, considering that we're most likely screwed at this point".

He was well aware that the Huragok race wasn't too fond of the Covenant. Mostly due to the Covenant, practically, enslaving them. They were always trying to escape, one way or another. He guessed the only reason the Huragoks never ran to the humans was because the Prophets probably told them that the humans would shoot any Huragoks on sight.

R.A looked at him, eyes half closed. _"So you _are_ angry with me"_, he said. Though there wasn't any tone to pick up on, Vus could tell it was more of a statement, rather than a question. He himself looked away, crossing his arms, casting black shadows against the red light of his PDG, "I _should_ be" he grumbled. "But, I suppose there was a reason I saved your life in the first place", he said, looking back to the Huragok.

_"Which is?"_, R.A asked.

Vus's head feathers flared outward again; shrugging. As his arms uncrossed themselves. "I guess I didn't like the thought of being alone". R.A looked at him blankly, then looked back down the tunnel. Apparently accepting that reply. It wasn't long before the Huragok asked him another question.

_"What was the name of that Unngoy, the one that learned our language?"_, he signed.

Vus's head feathers turning dark gold; hindsight. "I'm pretty sure the Unngoy said his name was Dadab, don't remember what the Huragoks name was", he said. He slowly looked toward R.A, his feathers turned into an odd shade of turquoise, as the corners of his beak pulled back in a grin; he was up to something. R.A looked at him nervously.

He pretended to look away in thought, "I'm pretty sure poor old Dadab was smashed to a pulp by the local Jiralhanae Chieftain, and the Huragok was torn to shreds by a pack of Yanme'e", he deadpanned. "Of course, I heard about this from a friend, seeing as though I had been shipped out to another vessel beforehand", he added, voice just as emotionless.

He looked back to R.A, and laughed at the mortified look in his eyes.

When Vus looked back the direction they were walking in, his eyes widened behind his facemask. They were approaching a curve in the tunnel, about 20 meters ahead of them. His head feathers flared outward and turned solid black; alertness. R.A seemed to notice his excitement and followed his gaze. Letting out a surprised chirp. He mentally cursed the short range on his facemasks' night vision.

He stopped moving.

This could either be the way out, or a dead end, if it was the latter, they'd have to go all the way back they had come. Meaning they'd have to walk down the other direction of the tunnel, seeing as though the entrance they had entered it was blocked off by rubble.

And if there was a dead end at the other end too… well, they'd be screwed… even more than they were already.

He suddenly broke into a sprint, the crimson light of his Point Defense Gauntlet following him. R.A then chirped and sped up to catch him, though he was still faster.

_Please let this be the way out!_, he begged mentally.

He dug his clawed feet in, sliding along the curved tunnel, sending gravel off to his left…

And sighed in relief, skidding to a stop and deactivating his PDG, as R.A slowed to a halt behind him.

Sunlight.

* * *

><p>Vus stared at what remained of the human city they had escaped from, in the distance. It lay in utter ruin, None of the buildings still standing, just an extremely large amount of rubble. <em>That could have been me in there<em>, he mused, head feathers shifting from a passive white, into a very pale yellow; relieved thankfulness.

He stood atop a very large mound of piled up dirt, posture relaxed, standing up straight. As opposed to the defensive hunch that soldiers of his kind always had while in combat. The orange armor of his clawed feet sinking into the earth slightly, The mound stood about 8 feet tall, put his powerful legs had gotten him up there with a quick jump. Not surprising, since he was T'vaoan.

His dirt mound of a perch was one of many that dotted a small hill, surrounded by inactive human construction vehicles. The tunnel he and R.A had exited left a gaping black whole in the side of the hill that the humans had planned on constructing a building on top of.

A few sections of unfinished, concrete walls lay here and there, next to concrete blocks, and buckets of cement.

It was late afternoon, summer.

Vus sighed, scanning the horizon. The hill was a small abnormality in bright green, curving slopes and plains. These plains surrounded a small forest, which in turn, surrounded the ruined city. The afternoon sun hung lazily, just above the horizon, giving everything a very tired looking orange hue.

The sight made him yawn, beak opening wide, as a light wind blew through his head feathers, wavering.

The sky was a cloudy, brown shade, as a result of the recent Glassing that took place, the atmosphere above the Glassed city would look like that for a day or two.

The very loud rumbling of a human vehicle turning on startled Vus. Making him squawk and jump, falling off the dirt mound. He grunted as he landed on the grass, shook his head, and got up, scowling at where the noise had come from. He checked his Needle Rifle, since it had taken most of his weight, and slung it across his back once more, seeing it was fine.

The human vehicle became deafeningly loud, Vus supposed he should be worried, but he had a feeling that it was R.A, probably mucking about with the unknown machinery. Not surprising, since he was a Huragok.

Vus walked half around his previous perch, and sighed in irritation, as his suspicions being confirmed. The bloody Huragok was inside the cockpit of a human construction vehicle, somehow able to fit completely inside and shut the vehicle door. The vehicle itself was probably the size of a Type-25 Chopper, yellow, with four rubber wheels, the back ones being larger, and a big crane-looking attachment at the front.

"Hey! Turning that thing off!, Vus shouted to the Huragok inside the vehicle, sparks flying within the cockpit. What was he doing in there? R.A didn't seem to hear him. Vus rubbed his throat, and tried again by letting loose a loud, echoing squawk that his kind were well known for. The sound would have been loud enough to hear half way across High Charity, but R.A still didn't hear him.

The fuckin' machine was drowning him out! He growled slightly, annoyed. His pride a bit hurt that he couldn't produce a big enough noise to get the Huragoks' attention. There was a reason T'vaoan males had enlarged "voice boxes", and why his throat was colored a bright red, in contrast to the rest of his dark gray skin.

Thoroughly peeved by the troublesome machines racket, Vus snatched the Plasma Pistol from his left thigh. He aimed at the vehicles' base, and held down the trigger. A bright, lime green orb of plasma buzzed loudly into existence in between the two prongs that made up the weapons' barrel. The small gun heated up considerably. When the orb couldn't get any larger, or louder, he released the trigger and sent an overcharged shot flying at the vehicle.

Vus shook the Plasma Pistol, dispersing the heat it was giving off, as the bolt of plasma hit the human vehicle, instantly shutting it down with a few outlines of discharging energy wavering off of it. The annoying noise immediately died down to nothing, as even more sparks flew about within the vehicles cockpit.

R.A came floating out of the vehicle after quickly leaving out of its door. He floated over to Vus, signing _"you could have killed me!"_. The T'vaoan, simply waved off the Huragoks anger, "no, I wouldn't have, even if the shot _did_ hit you it wouldn't do much", he said flippantly.

R.A seemed to silently groan. Vus walked back to the dirt mound he had used as a perch, and jumped to land on top of it again. R.A followed his new companion, and floated above the Kig-Yars' right shoulder.

After a few minutes of comfortable silence of observing their surroundings, R.A asked _"what do we do now?"_.

Vus didn't answer right away, glancing Northwards, as the built in compass of his HUD told him.

"I guess… we start walking", he finally answered, truly not knowing what to do.


	3. Chapter 2: Week One, Day Three

**If you didn't catch the "Halo: First Contact Harvest" reference last chapter: Read. It. Now. You'd be doing yourself a huge favor.**

Chapter 2: Week One, Day Three

Three days later…

You know that you're bored when hours turn into days, and days into weeks. You also know that you're hungry when it feels like you've got a Wraith Mortar with an intoxicated pilot firing off erratically within your guts. Vus stopped walking and clutched at the armor of his Combat Harness over his empty stomach, growling, as his stomach does much the same. _Please shut up_, he groaned internally.

_I don't need to be reminded_.

He started walking again, the knee-high grass making a _sift_ sound as it scraped across the armor on his legs. It had been three days of walking through seemingly endless, golden, grassy, fields and prairies. It's funny how such a small planet like Imort 3 can feel so _fricken'_ massive when you've got no transportation.

Well… no, actually… that's not funny… not at all, really… especially considering Vus's situation.

After they'd left the sight of the tunnel entrance with the human vehicles, they spent the first day walking, and occasionally jogging northwards, through verdant hills that quickly turned flat, and golden. The second day was spent much the same way, as they didn't stop to sleep.

A cautious decision that they both now regretted.

Vus had been rejecting all coherent thought, knowing that he would probably think of something pleasant that he couldn't have at the moment and get upset about it. But now his fatigue and growing hunger did _that_ job for him, and did it thoroughly… a bit too thoroughly.

The result was that he was mindlessly trudging through the golden sea of waving grass that seemed to come alive with movement every time the wind blew. Not a single thought past "begging his stomach to quit burning" ever showed itself. Like a ship set on autopilot, staring at the ground uninterestedly. He didn't even remember that a Huragok was following him.

It had been a silent agreement between the two of them that they would stick together. At least until… until what? There was no way off the planet, and Vus had never been away from civilization like this, so as far as surviving the wilderness went, him and R.A were nomads.

R.A made a strange wheezing sound that indicated he was ejecting excess gasses from the gas bladders that served as his locomotion, a by-product from digesting food. It caused Vus to momentarily glance at him, then look away.

Since they'd been traveling non-stop for 72 hours, it came as no surprise to Vus that R.A had been eating grass non-stop as he followed him. Probably to stop himself from falling asleep, and to keep his energy up.

Apparently, according to San 'Shyuum specialists, Huragoks could literally eat anything. So long as it was organic material, the bacteria that served as the Huragoks digestive system can gain nutrients from, pretty much, everything the Huragok could grab. Thus, as he followed Vus, R.A had been yanking large tufts of golden grass out of the ground, shaking the dirt off of them, then shoving the foliage into a barely visible hole underneath his body.

Vus assumed that the orifice was the Huragok equivalent of a mouth… and didn't really want to question otherwise.

What surprised Vus, was the Huragoks sheer _willingness_ to follow him. Vus would have went his own way by now, or at least asked where they were going and why. But R.A had been following him in an almost thrall like fashion, and hadn't "said" a word.

Then again… the Huragoks never really cared about anything other than… well, machinery.

Whenever a Huragok comes in contact with a new piece of technology, or a vehicle, their first and foremost impulse is to take it apart, and put it back together. Through this, they pretty much learn about every function of whatever they're fascinated with. The San 'Shyuum specialists theorized that by doing this, a Huragok can get a very detailed mental blueprint of anything they fiddle with.

And they supposedly never forget a design.

This, added with their impulsive desire to fix broken machinery, made them extremely useful to have on a ship.

It was almost as if the Huragok had been made to what they do [*wink, wink*].

So, because of a Huragok's trance-like desire to explore, scan, fix, and memorize machinery… he guessed that they _would_ probably just follow the nearest person in this situation. Just to find the next bit of technology to get their tentacles on.

Vus stopped walking as he looked up to suddenly see a rather steep rise in the usually flat landscape, about 20 meters ahead. It was a large hill that spanned to the left and right for some distance, and probably rose upwards by about ten feet. Possibly indicating a plateau.

His sense of curiosity suddenly made an appearance through the fog of absentmindedness. His eyes narrowed behind his facemask.

_What could be up there…_, he thought.

The amount of things that you could hide behind even a _small_ hill can be mind-boggling. Especially at the distance he was at. For all Vus new of the terrain, there could be a huge forest, desert, a massive sinkhole, or nothing at all. All blocked from view by this insignificant a rise in the ground.

And whatever might be hidden from view could be very important. It could completely change Vus's path; force him to go a different direction. Or it could encourage him to walk faster; possibly to get to some sort of resource that had come within sight; like… water.

Thinking of that made him realize how dry his throat was.

Damn. This was exactly why he was trying to NOT think. It would only make his physical hardships feel worse.

Along with his thirst, he found that his legs ached from the constant walking, and that he actually felt far hungrier than he had thought he was. An immediate aching, emptiness pulsed within his gut, and his knees were almost ready to buckle.

His throat felt like the biggest and driest desert on Eayn, and the rest of his body, in the direct and unhampered rays of the summer sun, felt like he'd been sprinting in said desert for hours.

_Fuck_.

_Well_ my_ day is officially ruined… although; I guess my allotted time for "good days" has ended. Now that I'm stuck here on this backwater, overrated asteroid_, Vus thought, with a pang of vexation staining his mind, head feathers being speckled with maroon against the passive white they had been, as a result.

R.A, who had been hanging back by ten feet while slowly feeding a tuft of grass into his "mouth", noticed that Vus had stopped moving and was just standing there, and floated over to him. As the Huragok hovered on Vus's right, turning to face him, he gave the T'vaoan a quizzical look. Wondering why his Kig-Yar friend seemed to be a thousand light-years away.

R.A glanced in the direction Vus was staring in, seeing the hill that he himself had noticed 30 minuets ago, and looked back to the Kig-Yar. Not sure what the Kig-Yar was staring at, he waved a tentacle in his face, and tapped his shoulder armor with another. Aware that the Kig-Yar's head feathers were speckled with maroon spots against white, indicating mild irritation.

Vus was snapped out of his irritated thoughts by R.A, and shook his head. His anxiety and exhaustion caused grouchiness was temporarily stowed at the sight of R.A beside him. And the fact that the speckles of maroon in his head feathers becoming fainter seemed to make the Huragok relax his posture.

R.A signed to him,_ "something wrong? You looked like your mind was somewhere in orbit"_, he asked, making a short sequence of chips, and tilting his head.

Vus chuffed a laugh and looked down, running a clawed hand through his head feathers. He took a deep breath, then looked up.

"Well, whatever's on the other side of that hill can either be very good, or very bad for our current situation. And since our set of circumstances are already complete crap, I guess I was just kind of… worried", he explained, ruefully.

_"Yeah, I know, I'm worried too, but why are you saying this_ now? I _noticed this thing, like, 30 minuets ago, man"_, R.A almost instantly signed in response, giving Vus an incredulous look.

"You saw this hill 30 minuets ago, and you didn't think to tell me?", Vus then questioned, the maroon speckles in his head feathers brightening and getting bigger.

_"I thought that you had noticed it too. What? Are you short sighted or something? Don't get mad at me because you apparently went blind within the last hour"_, R.A signed calmly, though defensive.

"Okay first off, I don't know what 'short sighted' means. And secondly, I was absorbed within my thoughts (which is a lie), you know, trying to figure out how to best handle this mess", Vus said, crossing his arms.

Vus's feathers then flashed into a solid maroon, and ruffled up, flaring. He was starting to get seriously ticked.

"A mess, that_ you_ got us into, _Rapid_", he added scornfully.

R.A seemed to scowl. _"You know, you didn't _have_ to go after me. You could have just ignored me and let someone else handle it, and then_ I'd_ be the one who's stranded out here"_. His tentacles twitched as he signed this.

Vus didn't really like to argue with people. In fact, he'd rather jump out of an airlock than listen to a superior give an angry lecture. Mostly because it almost always ended with someone being executed in disgrace. And Vus could have ended the argument there. R.A was practically _giving_ him a way to stop this.

But Vus was already too pissed off. He just now realized how sick he was of trudging through an endless yellow grass. How utterly tired, hungry, and unhinged he felt because he knew that he couldn't do a fucking thing to end his fatigue and discomfort. And feeling powerless was something he couldn't handle.

"Well I didn't, because I didn't want some arrogant prick from upstairs telling me to search high and low for a Huragok that the ship didn't even _need!_", he yelled, as his arms uncrossed and his fists clenched. His feathers had been splashed with a fiery red that seemed to flash in tempo with his quickened pulse.

R.A did and said nothing.

Vus pressed it further. "So now, because _you_ couldn't find a _better_ time to run away from the Covenant, and because my teammates mother fucking _forgot_ about me, I'm stranded on this mud ball with NO prior experience in survivalism, ZERO transportation, and BURDENED with an obliviously careless, snarky Huragok, who DIDN'T EVEN FUCKING APOLOGIZE!", he roared, seething.

R.A blinked with a look in the six of his eyes that screamed in bright neon letters "screw you".

A moment passed, the T'vaoan Kig-Yar seething through his nostrils, and the Huragok doing nothing.

_"Apologize for what?"_, R.A signed, asking, finally. _"Wanting be free? Hating being told to slave over the same machinery, and fix the same weapons and armor every second of every day-night cycle? For not wanting to be struck when I hesitate, or tire?"_, he spoke._ "For not wanting to be killed for modifying something even a little bit too much, when I could be doing so much more?"_.

Vus's head leaned back on its' joint, declining in angle. His eyes still locked on R.A's face behind his orange facemask. His feathers were tinged with small copper stripes among the crimson. The anger was still there, but it was diluted by the sudden urge to sulk.

R.A continued, _"If I'd known this would happen, that it would end up like this, I would've waited for another opportunity to escape. But that's_ not _how it happened. And getting pissed about it now won't help us… although I bet you already know that, right?"_, he finished, asking.

Vus's demeanor relaxed from its hostile state with a tired sigh, and he looked away, his feathers turning completely copper; bitterness.

Internally he was still angrier than a berserking Jiralhanae afflicted with withdrawal symptoms, but he knew he wasn't really miffed at R.A.

"You… you're right. You've got nothing to be sorry for, and I apologize for snapping at you… I guess all of this is just starting to get to me", Vus admitted.

He turned to R.A to gauge his reaction, but they were both interrupted by a very loud rumbling noise from behind Vus.

At the same time, the edges of Vus' HUD, made by his eye lenses, flashed red, and a red diamond blipped into existence on his radar in the bottom left corner of his vision, behind the yellow triangle which indicated himself.

Vus instantly whipped around, drawing his left Plasma Pistol, pointed at whatever had made the sound. His head feathers turning black.

There, about 50 feet away, burrowing out of a hole in the ground was a large insectoid creature. It was sending flakes of dirt everywhere as it emerged onto the surface, with its many, stick-like legs. Leaving a long trail of upturned dirt that stood out among the bright golden grass.

It was facing away from Vus and R.A, making a drawn out series of clicks that could only come from an arthropod.

The creature itself had to be at least 8 feet long with a dark bronze, overlapping, exoskeleton. The amount of small legs it had underneath its body was mindboggling. Probably, over a hundred. Its head was eyeless, and round only having a pair of 3-foot antennae by way of sensory organs.

Vus couldn't see its jaws, or any kind of mouth, and thus had no way of knowing if it was a herbivore or carnivore. But in case it was the latter, he wasn't going to take the chance. He was frozen n the spot, unmoving. He then very slowly placed his drawn weapon back on his left thigh, powerful magnets locking it in place. The black of his head feathers was tinged with streaks of orange.

He was cautious, yet ready to spring and run at the slightest sign of danger. He didn't know how this thing would react to his presence. This was the first life form they had encountered. And he and R.A were probably the first and only T'vaoan Kig-Yar and/or Huragok that this planet had ever seen.

So that meant that the potential predators in the area would react one of two ways.

Either, they wouldn't recognize Vus and R.A as "prey", thereby ignoring or avoiding them… or it could just make the creatures more curious as to how he and R.A tasted.

And this insect could decide to do either one in the blink of an eye.

Vus shook his head in dismay. He didn't know if his weapons (especially not the Plasma Pistols) could penetrate the creatures armor. Granted, plasma bolts had an acidic quality to them, designed to corrode through metals, minerals and flesh. But this was an alien planet. The very fact that insects even _existed_ here was a miracle in and of itself! And the fact that the species of the Covenant shared even the similarities that they did should have been impossible from a scientific standpoint.

So, for all he knew, this thing could be completely bulletproof, or telepathic, or maybe even able to fly!

Wait, what's R.A doing?

Vus glanced at R.A to find that the Huragok was already floating upwards, putting himself out of danger.

_Good… okay… now what do_ I_ do?_, he asked himself.

He looked back to see what looked to be the creature nibbling on the grass. _Okay… it eats plants… but doesn't mean it won't try to kill me… or if its an omnivore_, he reasoned.

Vus, in his brilliant state of genius, took an extremely slow step backwards, hand reaching up and behind to grip his Needle Rifle.

The insects antennae suddenly twitched and shot straight upward, the creature seeming to pause at something.

_Damn. It can probably sense vibrations through the ground or something_, he thought, cursing himself for not thinking.

The monstrous insect twisted its body around to gaze eyelessly at Vus. Antennae twitching. Searching for what it had just sensed.

Vus could now see a pair of nasty looking, serrated mandibles that probably served as the creatures mouth.

One could tell it preferred meat.

The insects head tilted, making a chirp that didn't sound unlike R.A. It then turned around fully and reared up the front half of its body, being tall enough to look down on him. It's many legs swiveling about as they were suspended. It was obviously trying to get a better "view" of its surroundings, and Vus didn't dare move a muscle, lest it pinpoint where he was and charge.

_Don't move, don't move, don't move, don't move, don't move-_, Vus's internal mantra was stopped as he very nearly jumped out of his skin when the creature allowed its front half to drop to the ground with a thud that seemed to make the earth shake.

Its antennae twitched and swiveled about twice more. *Chirp*. Then, after a second or two, it looked ready to turn back around and leave.

_Oh! Thank the Forerunners!_, Vus praised within his mind, sighing in relief… a little too soon.

The insect startled at the noise, head tilted, with its antennae aimed straight at Vus.

Everything seemed to stop moving.

Its mandibles clacked together a few times, creating an ominous clicking that would send chills down anyone's spine.

Vus slowly tugged his Needle Rifle off of the magnet that attached it to middle of his back, and pulled it over his shoulder to place his left hand under the barrel, and his right hand curled around the trigger.

A sensor in his left palm lined up with the sensor under the barrel. A brief "connecting; please wait" message appeared in the middle of his blue HUD as the creature started slowly crawling toward him.

_Come on! This is NOT the time to take forever!_, Vus thought, thinking back to the time he was nearly killed from this kind of thing. Although it probably was his fault for not linking up a new weapon to his facemask's eye lenses sooner.

He just hoped he wouldn't make the same mistake here and have it end with his death.

A small, transparent image, depicting a side view of a Needle Rifle appeared in the top right corner of his HUD. A number; 84 popping up just under it, telling him how much ammunition the weapon had. This new imagery was just above an even smaller, and faded picture of a Plasma Pistol.

Another picture of a faded Plasma Pistol, mirroring the other, was in the top _left_ corner of his vision.

Another message saying "finalizing" flashed in the center of his vision again, a loading bar starting to go across underneath it. Just as the insect started advancing toward him more quickly. Making Vus want to run.

_HURRY THE FUCK UP_!

By the time the loading bar had finished, and the "finalizing" message disappeared, leaving him with a functioning Needle Rifle, the creature was already within ten feet of him.

He very quickly fingered the buttons in his elbow joints, bringing his crimson Point Defense Gauntlets into existence over his forearms… just in case…

Vus put his feet into a fighting stance as R.A made a sound of anxiety somewhere above and behind him.

His last thoughts?

_Well, I'm fucked_.

**The insectile creature described here is based off of a prehistoric animal called "Arthropluera" from the Carboniferous period. Basically a big ass millipede as long as a car.**


	4. Chapter 3: Home

**Could you guys let me know if this chapter seems a bit… rushed?**

Chapter 3: Home

A loud squawk escaped Vus's beak, as he was forced to leap off to the left. The insect had reared up and dove down at Vus with its mandibles ready to take his head off. And now it had inadvertently face planted into the grassy dirt.

Vus rolled as he hit the ground in a fit of muscle memory, ending up turning to his right to face his opponent as he skidded to a halt. Sending dirt and grass into the air.

Well… "opponent" may be an incorrect term, since this was a battle of predator vs. prey.

However, this "prey" had a gun… and he'd be stupid not to use it.

The creature, that Vus had dubbed "Skaicken"(sky-ken), (named after an infamous, tyrannical former ruler of Eayn) alleviated its head from the ground and peered in Vus's direction.

One of its antennae had snapped off.

_Why do I get the feeling its going to be pissed about that?_, Vus asked himself.

The Skaicken shook its head as its mandibles clicked in what HAD to be called agitation. It then rose up the front half of its body, and plunged it into the ground. It wriggled a bit to get its front most legs a grip, then burrowed into the dirt, sending dust into the air.

Within 5 seconds, all 8 feet of it had disappeared underground, leaving a small mound of upturned dirt.

The area was left completely silent.

After a few minuets, Vus's feathers turned from black, to orange. The threat may be gone for now, but he was still alert.

Vus heard a chirp from R.A. He looked up to see the Huragok 20 feet up in the air. His Kig-Yar eyes easily picked out the movements of R.A's tentacles, as he signed something to Vus.

_"What the hell was _that_ thing!?_".

Vus's plumage flashed into a venomous green; disdain; scornfulness, then turned orange again.

"_How_, in the name of the Great Journey, would I know the answer to that?", he demanded incredulously. "Seriously, how? I'd love to know how you think that I would know the answer to that question when we're on an unexplored alien planet", Vus mocked, feathers flashing green again.

R.A seemed to scowl,_ "okay, damn! Just trying to create a discussion"_, he said. _"And what am I_ supposed _to say in this situation anyway?"_.

Vus was about to answer when he felt the ground vibrate underneath him.

_Oh, fuck_, he thought, dreading what he thought was going to happen. He then became like he always became while in a combat situation… Determined. As. Hell. Head feathers shifting into black accordingly.

Vus began backpedaling toward the hill. "Well, for one thing, how about you stop asking stupid questions, and secondly, how about you just say 'I'll shut up and follow you, Vus', 'cause that would spare me the time of having to tell you to do it", he ranted, as he began stepping up the foot of the hill backwards, while facing R.A. The vibrations intensified.

The Huragok seemed to be confused._ "Wait… if I said_ that_, then I would… uh-"_, Vus interrupted him. " Just shut up and follow me, you twit" he commanded, exasperated, as he turned around to walk faster.

R.A looked peeved, but did as he was told.

As Vus was just about to crest the hill, the vibrations increased into a rumble that made his skull rattle. And the next thing he knew, something erupted from underneath him, and he was tossed up, and all the way back down to the foot of the hill.

He grunted painfully as he felt the air knocked out of him when he landed. Stars and static obscuring his vision. He felt his Needle Rifle leave his hand while airborne. He looked to the right to see it 5 feet off to the side. His only weapon…

* * *

><p>Rapidly Ascends could only watch as the monstrous insect suddenly erupted from the earth underneath Vus's feet, throwing him back down the ten foot embankment.<p>

The creature was pulling the rest of its body out of the ground as Vus was sitting up, holding his stomach.

The monster began scuttling toward Vus at a pace that was seemingly designed to build tension. And Vus was only just starting to stand up.

_Oh, shit_.

He may have been a Huragok, and thus mostly a pacifist, but when it comes to his friends, all bets are off. He had to help.

* * *

><p>Vus grabbed his stomach as he sat up on the grass, groaning at the lack of air in his lungs. The back of his skull throbbed from hitting the ground, and he was almost certain he had a concussion. Knowing he would be killed otherwise, he forced himself to inhale a deep breathe. It helped.<p>

The Skaicken was coming toward him and would be within biting range in less than 15 seconds.

He scooted backwards with his legs, trying to get some distance between him and the creature. If his head wasn't spinning, he'd have had the sense to go for his Needle Rifle.

9 seconds, its mandibles clacked twice, it's remaining antennae twitching.

Vus rolled to his feet, immediately almost retching at his dizziness. He steadied himself. Shook his head. _Come on! Get your brain back in your skull!_, he berated himself as he stumbled in roughly the opposite direction of the Skaicken.

4 seconds.

The insect was 6 feet away. Vus looked up, and turned to face it. He had to think of something. Fast.

His vision was still blurry though. And his thinking process was reduced to "shit. Must. Move. Or me. Dead".

Within range, you're fucked.

The Skaicken's mandibles clicked as it rose up the front half of its body, prepared to purge its prey of life, and eat the corpse.

And suddenly something… blue and purple appeared behind the creatures' head, and… wait, was that R.A!?

The Huragok had wrapped all four of his tentacles around (what amounted to) the Skaicken's neck and was pulling backwards furiously, trilling/wailing in exertion, keeping the creature off of Vus.

The insect hissed, clacked its mandibles together, and flailed its small legs uselessly as it struggled to free itself from the Huragok, and finish what it started with Vus.

R.A's efforts definitely weren't choking the thing, but it was giving Vus a chance to finish it.

The fog that clouded his mind from his concussion instantly cleared away at the sight of R.A in the picture, and Vus dove towards his Needle Rifle.

He rolled as he snatched up his weapon, and when he halted in a kneeling position to the creatures left, he braced it against his shoulder, looked down the scope, took a breathe… and pulled the trigger.

A bright purple line immediately shot from the weapons barrel, and into the Skaicken's head. When the 10 inch shard of pink mineral stuck into the side of the creatures skull, it shrieked in pain…

…and died when the needle exploded within its skull, sending bits of exoskeleton, drops of black blood, tiny bits of crystal, and chunks of brain matter in a small arc, making Vus step to the side to avoid it.

The creature went slack, and R.A promptly released it from his grip.

Vus was left panting after the Skaicken thudded to the ground. They both shared a moment of silence while they recovered.

Vus then stood up; pressing the buttons in his elbow joints, causing his PDG's to flash, then disappear. He looked down at his Needle Rifle to only find that one of the many crystals that stuck out the weapon on each side of the scope was missing, leaving only a small, glowing purple hole. Which was good, because it had flown about ten feet into the air and hit the ground at about 20 mph.

A quick look at the top right corner of his HUD confirmed that he had 20 shots left in the magazine, and 63 spare bullets after that was spent.

Vus had been surprised to see that the Needle Rifle had functioned properly. Seeing as though it was a prototype that had been_ just_ handed to him and most of the Kig-Yar aboard the _Cold Embrace_, before he was dispatched on this mission. So, it was a pleasant surprise to see that it actually worked. Especially against the Skaicken…

_Huh… need some alien insect dead? Use the Needle Rifle!… yep… Covenant engineering for you_, he thought.

Vus noticed that R.A was floating over to him.

"Alright… I think we've established that I'm a complete and total baddass, here", he declared a bit cockily, head feathers turning silver; satisfaction.

_"Oh, yeah, 'cause you had_ no_ help from _anyone_ at all, right?"_, R.A signed in response.

Vus laughed at that, and reached back to clip his Needle Rifle onto his back. "Yeah, well… _I_ pulled the trigger", he said, grinning behind his facemask.

Any memory they had of the argument from before seemed to disappear as they both began walking back up the hill, chatting.

* * *

><p>Vus had sighed in utter relief at the sight of a large basin upon reaching the top of the hill. Dotted with trees all around, and with a small lake near the middle. Lets just say the fight with the Skaicken hadn't helped him much, and the sight of the water made his throat slam shut from thirst.<p>

They spent the next 3 hours lounging about on the grass near the lake, occasionally drinking from it.

Neither of them had noticed how the sun was dimming from below the horizon. So they quickly found a tree to sleep in as night soon enveloped everything.

Vus sighed, slumping against the tree, letting his armored legs hang from either side of the branch he was sitting on. R.A, who seemed to almost deflate from exhaustion on the same branch two feet away, "sighed" as well.

Even though he was still hungrier than hibernating mammal, and they would both have to leave the area as soon as they woke up, his thirst was thoroughly quenched, and he could sleep for the first time in 72 hours.

His head feathers shone silver from his unbelievable luck. Even with the tinge of "rust" from tiredness.

Vus leaned forward and lay down on the branch, stretching, as he prepared to fall asleep for the better part of 16 hours. It was far from comfortable, but he couldn't care less at the moment.

For the first time since they had left the tunnel behind, he allowed his thoughts to drift and daydream.

Instead of revolving around some delicious delicacy of food, or of his bed back on High Charity, his thoughts went straight to… his home, T'vao, on Eayn. Of his life before the Covenant, more than 20 years ago.

He thought of his past life among the gladiators, of the cheers and praise he would receive from spectators after killing some random bloke or animal. Of the friendships forged among his fellow fighters. Of how he'd walk home every afternoon with a tired body, but completely content heart and mind. How he could just instantly relax on a sofa in his house and eat dinner, while some T'vaoans would have had to cook their food, clean their houses, and prepare for the next monotonous day at work.

Thinking of his simple, yet decent lifestyle made his heart ache, his feathers turn blue, and small whines escape his throat. But he didn't stop himself from doing so.

He wasn't a very sentimental person, but… thinking of Eayn made him feel utterly "home-sick". Which was weird, because he had been away from Eayn, and with the Covenant for the better part of 20 years, and he had never felt this much heart-ache.

_Maybe, it's because I know that I'll never see any of it again_, he thought, solemnly.

His thoughts drifted to the people in his life. His parents that would support, and advise him in everything. His best friend, Cosen who had gone with him to serve in the Covenant, and was among his teammates. Which made Vus's desertion all the more insulting. And a gruff, yet well humored Sangheili named Varsk that had had the humility to befriend a T'vaoan Kig-Yar like him.

Vus then thought of someone who had been close to him in a very _different_ way.

Rexa Krowen. The one that managed the gladiatorial arena's armory. Though she and Vus had copulated many times, they had never planned on having any hatchlings. Even though it would have worked rather well. She had the wits and spunk to actually draw a smile from Vus's usually stern face. And the skills as a fighter to create some _very_ potent warriors as hatchlings between the two of them. Thinking back on it now, Vus would have described the relationship as "friends/colleagues with benefits".

Thinking of her brought back images of her head crest, elbow spikes, and… attractive legs-

He put a firm stop to those thoughts… they'd only remind of the things he couldn't have right now… or ever.

Vus, actually found it rather odd that T'vaoan Kig-Yar take heritage and bloodlines as seriously as the Sangheili. The females would make any suitor to present itself jump through many, _many_ hoops before any decision regarding mating was involved.

A common question that females undoubtedly asked themselves would be: Do I want more of this kind of person running around?

With Vus's status as Supreme Gladiator, and the skills, sense of humor, and intelligence to boot, it was easy to say that any female would have _jumped_ at the chance to utilize his genes.

And… Vus had never seized the opportunity. He may not have been prone to show much emotion, especially not affection, but even _he_ would have loved the chance to raise and train his hatchlings into warriors like him.

He had left Eayn with the promise to everyone that he'd come back. And he had promised Rexa that he'd be there for her to rely on when he did. Seeing as though she didn't have the most well paying job, and not many males would take after a working female.

But, the minute that news of his disappearance made it to T'vao, all of what he'd said would turn into a lie.

He didn't even want to _think_ about how his parents and siblings would react to the news… how Rexa would ultimately take one of the other gladiators as a suitor.

Vus sighed, resting the side of his head on the branch, and allowed a deep sleep to take away his consciousness.

It was just bringing him pain anyway…

**Yeah, that bit about the head crest and elbow spikes… well, that's got to do with "how sexiness has to do with evolution". See, during mating, a male Kig-Yar gets a bit… over zealous. They tend to, uh, bite within the throws of pleasure. And because of that, evolution essentially gave the females of the species toughened, or bony skin in the place of feathers or quills, to protect them. And so, basically, the tougher a females "plates" are, the sexier she looks… it's essentially how evolution makes sure that only healthy females create offspring.**

**It's also the reason why we human males prefer girls with wide hips, and small waists. Because those features essentially mean "I'm healthy" and that the female is resistant to diseases like cancer.**


End file.
